Background
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression have resulted particularly among physicians and strategies to minimize distress are needed.
Methods
A survey study was performed evaluating resident physician well-being before and after implementation of a virtual wellness program during the COVID-19 pandemic.  This virtual wellness program was a weekly program implemented at a New York-based hospital over a 2-month period.  It involved weekly virtual check-in meetings focusing on various healthy lifestyle and self-care techniques, including healthy eating, exercise, creative expression, mindfulness, reading for pleasure, journal writing, and reflection. Surveys evaluated career purpose, emotional distress, and cognitive flexibility using the 14-item Physician wellness inventory using scaled scores from 1 through 5 correlating to whether they strongly disagreed to strongly agreed. Student’s t-test was performed to compare mean scores before and after implementation of the 2-month program.
Results
Among 12 residents, the mean scores for career purpose, distress, and cognitive flexibility prior to the virtual wellness course was 3.8 + 0.4; 3.1 + 0.7; 3.8 + 0.2, respectively which suggests a range of overall neutrality and agreement in these dimensions. When comparing results after the 2-month virtual wellness program, there was no significant difference in scores.
Conclusions
After implementation of a virtual wellness program, physician wellness scores remained the same amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and such programs can help minimize stress amongst residents during these unprecedented times.

Can a Virtual Wellness program help minimize stress amongst resident physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic?